Evening capital., 1887-02-03

Subject Of Dfscuaafon nc the PresbyferIan
Church Last Night.

ject discussed at the prayer meeting in
the Presbyterian Church last night, in
which the pastor said :
One very important requisite Of teach
er Is knowledge. Some undertake TO
teach, and they soon find themselves in
the position of an early teacher of the dis
tinguished minister, Robert Hall. This
teacher took the boy Robert back to his
father, and told him that he had gotten
beyond his attainments, and that he could
not keep pace with him. Then, the most
successful teachers have sought knowl-
edge with even greater eagerness than
their pupils. or one il was said Never
was pupil more eager TO be taught A
minister once said to his congregation !:
II took none of these truths which have
just uttered either from the scriptures or
from the fathers all came out of the
head Of your minister" For teacher to
use such language, unless his head were
kept full by constant study, would lead
his people TO think that he relied more
upon his Imagination than his memory.
The fact is that the best teacher among
us is more like a cistern than fountain.
Then too, the best teaching of earth
does not clear up the mysteries around us.
The solution Of one mystery is the discov-
cry Of another mystery. Water, we are
told, is composed of oxygen and hydro
gen But what are these, We ask, and We
have TO wait for an answer And so with
many other things. Much of the knowl-
edge impaired by early teachers is made
quate, borrowed, selected, imperfect, and
we feel that they do not have all the
knowledge we desire.
But the knowledge of Christ is COM
plete, perfect, infinite. He is the grea;
source and fountain of knowledge. lie
calls Himself THE Truth, meaning
thereby that lie has all truth at his com
mand lie knows the real and the posi-
BILE He has all wisdom, infinite wisdom
because He is God
Another requisite for a teacher is tact
or skill in imparting knowledge. 1t is
not every one that can teach. Many schol
arly people seem to have their intellectual
wealth in solid bars, and not in a shape
TO give 10 an inquiring pupil. Plato in
his day, said, ''it takes seven years OF 81
lent inquiry to know the truth, and seven
more to know how 10 make it known to
others" The teacher has to train minds
of varied culture and talents, and if he is
not skillful in his methods he will fail ut
terly, at least with some. Hence the teach
er must know his pupil as well as the
knowledge he desires to impart.
Now Christ knows us thoroughly. He
knows how to deal with this scholar and
that pupil. He is patient beyond any
other teacher. Now His words are receiv
ed with the greatest JOY by his pupil.
Now we learn from His example the
sweetest lessons. Sometimes He has to
resort to severe measures before we learn
the lessons He would teach us. BY pain
and in tears we learn many lesson that
we would not otherwise learn. In vari-
Gus ways we are learning important les
sons, and in our own experience, we can
testify to the fitness of this divine teach
CT.
Another requisite of the teacher Is the
power TO arouse and awaken the pupil
The old philosophers away back in the
past, Socrates, Plato and Aristototle,
thought that an intellectual quickening
was important. The word education seems
to refer TO such a quickening, siAce the
powers of the mind are led forth in all
true education. The successful teacher
arouses the sleeping faculties of his stu
dent. and he takes an interest in studies
that were repulsive TO him, and he draws
out, leads forth, the mind into fields of
thought entirely unknown before.
This is what Christ does with his pupil
We are told "Then opened he their un-
derstanding, that they might understand
the Scriptures. Then we read ofLydia,
whose heart the Lord, that is Christ,
opened, that she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul" We see
how Jesus aroused the mind of Nicode-
mus when he came to inquire about Ger
tain truths that had occupied his atten-
tion, and although we are not told the re-
suit of Christ teachings on that particu-
lar occasion, we know, from subsequent
events, that he was benefited. Then in
the case of the woman of Samaria, we see
how her mind was quickened under the
words of this great Teacher. As the
truth gradually dawned upon her, and
her mind became more and more aroused
she said. Il perceive that thou art a
prophet" and then rs not this the
Christ" To-day he is thus awakening
the minds of his disciples, and they feel
that he is their great teacher.